A tour bus crashed with a pickup truck on a rural mountain highway in Southern California.

A TOUR bus crashed with a pickup truck on a rural mountain highway in Southern California, killing eight people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.

The accident occurred around 6:30 p.m. local time near the town of Forest Falls, about 128 kilometres east of Los Angeles, San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Eric Sherwin said.

Sherwin said 27 people were treated at the scene. He said multiple people died and injuries varied from minor to life-threatening.

Highway Patrol Officer Mario Lopez confirmed that eight people died in the fatal accident.

People were still being extricated from the bus more than an hour after the crash on a mountainous stretch of two-lane Highway 38. Television footage showed the bus sitting upright but turned sideways on the road.

Recommended Coverage

Sherwin did not know where the bus was headed or how the truck was involved. Highway 38 leads to Big Bear, a popular area that's home to a ski resort and other recreational locations.

At least seven ambulances were called to the scene, and patients were taken to several hospitals.

The injured were rushed to several area hospitals.

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center said four women had been admitted from the crash and their conditions were still being determined. Redland Community Hospital said it received one person in critical condition and one with minor injuries, while two more were en route with minor injuries. Community Hospital of San Bernardino said it had received one patient with undetermined injuries, while St. Bernadine Medical Center said it had two patients, whose injuries were being assessed.

The California crash comes less than a day after a bus carrying 42 high school students and their chaperones slammed into an overpass in Boston. Massachusetts state police said 35 people were injured and that the driver had directed the bus onto a road with a height limit.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.